EV battery plant in Ind. expected to open in ’25

KOKOMO, Ind. — A joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung plans to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Indiana that will employ up to 1,400 workers and become the company’s second such factory in North America.

The joint venture announced Tuesday plans to spend more than $2.5 billion on the plant in Kokomo that will supply electric battery modules for a range of vehicles produced at Stellantis’ North American assembly plants.

Construction of the Indiana plant is expected to start later this year, with the facility expected to open in early 2025 in the city about 60 miles north of Indianapolis.

The venture’s investment in the plant could gradually increase up to $3.1 billion, Mark Stewart, the chief operating officer of Stellantis North America, said at the announcement at Ivy Tech Community College in Kokomo.

Samsung SDI will use its PRiMX technology to produce electric vehicle battery cells and modules for the North American market at the Kokomo plant, the companies said in a statement.

Stellantis, formed last year with the merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Peugeot, had said it would build two electric vehicle battery factories in North America.

The Kokomo plant would be the second of those plants and the first in the United States.

In March, Stellantis announced plans to spend $4.1 billion in a joint venture with LG Energy Solutions of Korea to build one of the plants in Windsor, Ontario.

Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker, has announced plans to sell 5 million electric vehicles by 2030, with 50% of its North American passenger car and light truck sales going fully electric by 2030.